Jean-Philippe Dallaire (9 June 1916 – 27 November 1965) was one of the leading artists working figuratively in the 1960s in Canada. He is known for his festive scenes peopled by macabre characters.
Early years
Jean-Philippe Dallaire was born in Hull to a large working-class family.
He started drawing when he was eleven years old.
He studied at the École technique in Hull and at the
Central Technical School
Central Technical School (CTS or Central Tech) is a Canadian composite high school in Toronto, Ontario. The school is run by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB); before 1998, it was run by the Toronto Board of Education (TBE).
Central Tech ...
in Toronto between 1932 and 1935. Dallaire then studied briefly in Boston.
In 1936 he set up his studio in the Dominican monastery in Ottawa and began his career painting religious subjects. That year, at the age of twenty, he painted a self-portrait that was later acquired from his estate by the
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
in 1972. In Ottawa, Dallaire become involved with Les Confrères artistes Le Caveau, working alongside
Henri Masson. In 1938 Dallaire studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Montreal.
In October 1938 the government of Quebec gave him a grant that allowed him to go to Paris and study at
Ateliers d'Art Sacré
The Ateliers d'Art Sacré (Studios of Sacred Art, 1919-1947) was a collective of artists based in Paris, France in the first half of the 20th century. It aimed to create religious art that was both modern and accessible to the general public. For ...
and the studio of
André Lhote
André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art.
Early life and education
Lhote was born ...
.
He also worked in his own studio in
Montmartre
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
.
While in Paris he encountered the work of
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
and the
surrealists
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
, such as
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
(1939–1945), Dallaire and his father were placed in an internment camp after the German forces occupied Paris in 1940.
Dallaire's wife was released after six months.
He was held in the camp of
Saint-Denis, near Paris, for four years.
After being released he took a course in tapestry and apprenticed in tapestry-making in
Aubusson under
Jean Lurçat
Jean Lurçat (; 1 July 1892 – 6 January 1966) was a French artist noted for his role in the revival of contemporary tapestry.
Biography
He was born in Bruyères, Vosges, the son of Lucien Jean Baptiste Lurçat and Marie Emilie Marguerite L ...
.
Later career
Dallaire returned to Canada after the war and from 1945 to 1952 taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
. He worked for the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
as a cartoonist for educational films in Ottawa from 1952 to 1956 and then in Montreal from 1956 to 1958.
During this period he was also commissioned to create numerous murallevese.
He was among the artists selected to decorate the interior of the
Queen Elizabeth Hotel
Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth (french: Fairmont Le Reine Élizabeth) is a historic grand hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. With 950 rooms and 21 floors it is the largest hotel in the province of Quebec, and the second largest Fairmont hotel in ...
, owned by the
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN i ...
, which opened in 1958.
He contributed a wall hanging. Others were
Marius Plamondon
Marius Plamondon (1914–1976) was a Canadian sculptor and stained glass artist who made a significant contribution to the revival of the art of stained glass in Quebec during his lifetime. His most famous work is the set of ten stained glass windo ...
(stained glass mural),
Claude Vermette
Claude Vermette (August 10, 1930 – April 21, 2006) was a Canadian ceramist and painter. He was born in Montreal, Quebec and died in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. He was an artist with an international reputation, and he made important contribution ...
(ceramic tiles),
Julien Hébert
Julien Hébert (August 19, 1917 – May 24, 1994) was a Québécois industrial designer, perhaps most famous for creating the logo of the Montreal World Exposition, Expo 67.
Formerly a student of philosophy, Hébert began his design educatio ...
(bronze elevator doors) and
Albert Edward Cloutier
Albert Edward Cloutier (1902–1965) was a Canadian painter and graphic designer who painted in a form of intensified realism with abstract plastic forms.
Life
Albert Edward Cloutier was born in 1902 of Canadian parents in Leominster, Massachuse ...
(carved wooden panels).
In 1959 Dallaire moved to
Vence
Vence (; oc, Vença) is a commune set in the hills of the Alpes Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France, north of Nice and Antibes.
Ecclesiastical history
The first known Bishop of Vence is Severu ...
in the south of France where he lived until his death in 1965.
The first retrospective of Dallaire's work was organized by the
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and the Musée du Québec in 1968.
Work
Dallaire was technically a virtuoso in both painting and drawing.
He painted on cardboard, canvas board, linen or cotton canvas, chipboard and plywood.
Despite his studies, Dallaire was largely self-taught and was highly original.
He paid little attention to external trends, while his style constantly evolved as he matured.
His early work included realistic portraits, which were followed by cubist and surrealist works.
All his work is characterized by a practically unique perception.
Although interested in abstraction, he was essentially representative.
His best known works are his paintings of festivities populated by unreal charactersesoves, glimpses of a mysterious private world.
Despite his cheerful palette, his artificial paradise is peopled by troubled characters affected by fear, madness and violence.
A critic has said, "Dallaire had a magical way of applying paint. His oils look like gouaches, the texture of the board, or canvas, visible under the fine layers of paint. As simple as the image may appear, it is in fact a symphony of colour and gesture, a painterlesblese tableau in the guise of a fairytale." In 1957 Dallaire said,
"One could say that I do not take life seriously. I always had a fondness for birds, little flags and the texture of fabrics. Perhaps it is a bit decorative, but so what."
Dallaire's eclecticism and attachment to figurative art have tended to make critics marginalize his work.
The first
retrospective
A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...
exhibition of his work was held in 1968 at the
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex.
Founded in 1964, it is ...
and the
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...
.
References
Notes
Citations
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dallaire, Jean-Philippe
1916 births
1965 deaths
Canadian surrealist artists
20th-century Canadian painters
Canadian male painters
National Film Board of Canada people
French Quebecers
Artists from Quebec
People from Gatineau
Deaths in France
Canadian expatriates in France
20th-century Canadian male artists